Girl Meets Olympus
by TheBeautifulAndDamned
Summary: Heroes are meant to be the stars of Greek tragedies, but Riley believes that they can create their own destiny. A tale of friendship, family, adventure, and love told through demigods at Camp Half-Blood. PJO au
1. Chapter 1

A fearful scream could be heard across the grounds, but this was not uncommon when it came to Camp Half Blood. For this reason, Riley did not move from her place tending to the strawberries until the alarm sounded. She looked up to meet the stares of her siblings. The alarm hadn't sounded since the Great War. Someone was at the border and they were not an expected guest.

Before she knew it, she was running towards the outskirts of the camp with all her siblings following close behind. Riley could not shake the feeling that this was important. Whatever they found at the border was important.

As she arrived to the top of Half Blood Hill, the majority of the camp was already there crowding around something. Riley noticed most of them were armed. She pushed back the fear that started welling up at the apparent seriousness of the situation and started making her way through the crowd to see what they were all looking at. However before Riley could make it there, the campers began to part at the sound of a centaurs hooves hitting the ground. Chiron, the activities director of the camp, trotted to the front. His breath caught at the sight before him.

"We need the the head healers here immediately!", Chiron shouted to the crowd.

Lucas Friar, son of Apollo, was the first one to the front. His eyes widened as he fell to his knees to help whoever was injured. More children of Apollo rushed to assist him. They were shouting at each other frantically. Riley was shaking with curiosity at what was going on. She was still caught in the middle of the crowd and could not see the person they were tending. More aggressive than she usually is, she shoved her way to the front. She was not prepared for the sight before her.

Gazing past Lucas and all the others, she saw a girl about her age. Covered in blood and barely breathing, she looked like an angel of death. Her blonde hair was matted with the same red that was flowing out of the wounds on her chest. Lucas had a towel soaked with nectar pressed against her cuts to slow the bleeding, but it was still coming out fast. Riley heard him tell the others that they had to move her to the infirmary if they were going to stabilize her. The rest of the healers nodded and began to lift her up. Immediately a whimper left the girls lips as they jostled her.

Tears sprang to Riley's eyes, she could not look away from the gruesome scene. She was stuck in place until an arm wrapped around her and pulled her back just in time to avoid obstructing Lucas' path as he lead his siblings in the direction of the infirmary. The arm loosened and her friend Farkle shifted next to her.

"Riley, are you okay? You look pretty shaken up." Farkle eyed her with concern.

"I-I… Yeah, I'm fine." Riley replied trying to act unaffected.

Farkle nodded and grabbed Riley's arm as he started walking towards the forges.

" Cmon, I want to show you this new machine I designed to improve..."

Riley tuned the rest out as she reluctantly followed him. Caught up in her own thoughts, all she wanted to do was go to the infirmary and see the blonde girl. By the looks of her injuries, Riley was not sure she was going to make it through the night. For some reason, her heart ached at the thought. Riley shook her head, chastising herself for being overdramatic. She didn't even know this girl, so there was no reason to get herself attached to someone who might not live long enough to find out her name.

As she walked along with Farkle, neither of them noticed the flowers wilting as they moved past.


	2. Chapter 2

The pavilion was alive with chatter when Riley and Farkle showed up for dinner. Tables separated by godly parents, Riley made her way to Demeter's while Farkle went to Hephaestus'. Riley dreaded sitting down, already knowing the topic of everyone's conversation. As she took her seat in her usual spot next to her sister, Astrid immediately turned to her in anticipation.

"So, what do you think?" Astrid blurted out, looking at Riley eagerly.

"What do I think..?" Riley shot back at her. "I think I would hate to find out people I didn't know were talking about me as I was lying unconscious in a hospital bed."

At being chastised by her older sister, Astrid stared down at her lap guiltily. Riley felt bad for snapping because she knew Astrid meant no harm, but she could not help feeling oddly protective of the injured blond girl. She wanted to spare her from all the rumors that would be spreading while she was in the infirmary.

As the rest of the Demeter table started filling up, Riley and Astrid sat in silence. The tension was finally broken by their favorite food appearing on the table. Everyone stood up to offer a portion of their meal to the gods, a small sacrifice they made to their chosen god every time they ate. As Riley made it to the fire, she gave a portion to her mother and decided to give the rest to Apollo. She said a quick prayer for him to heal the injured girl. Not feeling like her usual talkative and upbeat self, Riley made her way back to her table and spent the rest of the meal trying to tune out the speculations that all the other campers were debating. While everyone was deep in discussion, Riley decided to slip out of the pavilion unnoticed.

Finally making her way outside, Riley took a deep breath. A feeling of calm washed over her as she was surrounded by nature. As she let herself get caught up in a daydream about discovering new wild flowers, she began aimlessly walking. Hours passed by and the sky had turned dark before she realized her surroundings.

It was past curfew and the harpies were bound to be out patrolling. Fear gripped Riley as she noticed how far she was from her cabin. She would never make it there without being caught. Looking around, she saw the porch light of a building that was only a short distance away. Running as fast as her feet could take her, she made her way to the porch steps. Hearing the screech of a harpie that had probably seen her, Riley threw open the door and shut it quickly. Catching her breath and thanking every god on Olympus that she had not been caught, Riley finally took in where she was.

Not immediately recognizing it because she had previously only been there during the day, she realized she was in the infirmary. Without the usual bustling of the Apollo kids, the infirmary was eerily quiet. The room was cast in orange glow from the oil lamps that were lit. Beds lined the walls and all were unoccupied, but one.

Her curiosity getting the better of her, Riley approached the bed as quietly as possible. She told herself that all she wanted was just one glance at the injured girl and then she would leave quickly. As she reached the side of the bed, Riley let out a startled gasp.

Writhing in bed, the blond girl had tears flowing down her pale cheeks. Her mouth was twisted in a grimace as whimpers escaped her lips. Her body trembled like she was moments away from breaking apart. She looked as if the nightmare she was experiencing was sent directly from the depths of the Underworld itself.

Riley stood paralyzed. She had never seen anything like this before. She had spent years comforting her siblings when they had nightmares, but this was not just some average demigod nightmare. Panic seized Riley as the trembling seemed to be getting progressively worse. A part of Riley wanted to get the hell out of there and never see this girl again. The bigger part of her knew she could not just leave her, mostly because Riley was expecting the blonde's heart to give out from the sheer terror of it all. The girl's whimpers started turning into screams when Riley finally decided to take action.

Reaching out a hand, Riley touched her shoulder. The girl flinched away from her as if she had been burned. At the reaction, words started tumbling out of Riley's lips.

"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you. You aren't alone. Please let me help you. Open your eyes, it's just a dream."

The screaming seemed to be getting quieter as Riley kept on repeating those phrases over and over again. Eventually, the girl began to calm down. The only sounds left were broken whines every so often. Hesitantly, Riley put her hand out again. Stroking the soft blonde hair, Riley let out a relieved sigh as the girl did not react. Feeling bolder, Riley moved her other hand to her cheek. Rileys thumb brushed away the tears that were still falling. She continued doing this until the girl stopped crying and fell back into a peaceful sleep.

Taking a step back from the bed, Riley let out a shuddering breath as she wrapped her arms protectively around herself. The adrenaline that had been coursing through her had faded and now exhaustion consumed her. Glancing out the window, Riley realized the sun was rising. Startled that she had spent all night here, Riley scrambled to leave the infirmary. Opening the door she collided with a muscular chest, hands reached out to steady her as she was met with the confused gaze of Lucas.

"Riley? What are you doing here?" Lucas asked as his eyes took in her frazzled appearance.

"I-I.. there were harpies. The porch light.. I was going to go after the coast was clear, but I couldn't leave her all alone... She was screaming! Lucas, you have to help her. Oh gods, she looked like she was going to die." Riley said, getting more and more hysterical as she kept talking.

"Hey, hey it's okay. There's nothing to be worried about. You're talking about the new girl, right? My siblings and I are doing our best to heal her. All of her flesh wounds are closed. She is stable now too, so there's no chance that she's dying." Lucas reassured her gently.

"She had a horrible nightmare. I mean like a soul crushing nightmare, was not a normal demigod dream. There's something evil going on in her head. I know you said she was stable, but I don't know how she can make it through another night if she has to go through that again.." Riley said solemnly.

Lucas frowned in thought. He took her words seriously. He had never seen her like this before. Riley looked ready to explode with worry. Her hands were shaking and her eyes were blown wide with fear. Lucas decided to guide her away from the building. She needed some distance from this place.

"Riley, go back to the Demeter cabin and get some sleep. You look like you are ready to pass out. I promise to do everything I can to help your girl." Lucas said as he gently nudged her in the right direction.

Riley did not even respond to Lucas as she began walking away. Her legs dragged her on autopilot to her cabin. As she opened the door, her siblings all turned to look at her with concerned eyes. She ignored them as she collapsed into her bed. She fell into a dreamless slumber.


End file.
